


prank war

by Rona23



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Gay Keith, Gen, Get pidge her money petition, High School AU, I was cringing my heart out, I´m Pidge by the way, M/M, Prank War, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, bi lance, damn I hate romance, everyone is oblivios, i do love it though, imagine me writing this shit, it´s only mentioned though, it´s still 38 pages, just bear with my bullshit XD, klance, lazy writing, prank au, the fluffiest fluff I´ve ever had to read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:12:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: Lance and Keith have been pranking each other for years now. To the point where they already know what the other might be up to.So when Lance decides to put an anonymous love letter into Keith's locker, he just knew that Keith knew it was him.He didn't expect Keith to actually play along...Meanwhile the whole school ows Pidge money.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance and Keith had always hated each other. That was a simple fact. For the public it was obvious.  
Nobody knew when it started, exactly. But it was evident in the way Lance behaved that it was probably something really small. Something unnecessary. Something nobody would ever consider important enough to start a whole rivalry over. 

And Keith? Well Keith was more like the rest of the school. A walking question sign, when it came to Lance.  
Still, he kept fighting with Lance. Why? He didn´t even know himself. But whenever Lance made fun of him or even just opened his mouth, Keith felt himself rise up to the challenge.

All they knew was that it was always Lance who started the prank war. It went from simple things like dirt in your school bag and painting a dick on your face while you fell asleep in the bus, to sometimes more serious things.  
They sometimes hit each others buttons with full force. Not on purpose, as they both know, but that´s just it, they don´t really talk about it.  
They live on revenge. Some days are better, others are worse. But it is always something up. And they got to know each other by riling each other up.  
Maybe, that is why they actually felt like they were kind of close to the other. They knew the other by their worst behavior.  
They also knew the good sides as well. And they kept challenging each other to reach an even bigger level of worst, just to prove that they could.  
It ended rather violently sometimes.

They had been on this for years now.  
Well, at least they fought physically only on rare occasions- by now. It was one of the mutual agreements they had.  
Sure it was a progress. But that was only for both of their future careers. The Garrison was a rather unforgiving school. And Keith was there on a scholarship he couldn´t risk loosing.  
Lance, however needed a clean reputation. Otherwise he wouldn´t be allowed to go to space and fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot.  
Both were not exactly rich and Lance´s family was working hard for him to reach his goal, while Keith´s family was constantly gone.

Family was a touchy subject with both of them. They knew of the others situation, because of previous prank gone wrong. So this was part of their silence protocol.

Middle school had been a wild ride. Both of them still had some scars from previous confrontations. Back when they used to scratch each other. Kicked each other in the gut, causing them to fall into plants with rather nasty leafs. To children they felt like knifes cutting them open. Almost as bad as the rocks and stones they would fall on.  
The punching mostly caused them rather colorful skin, too. 

Whenever someone brought the past up, however, Lance always claimed that he was the one who won every time. Hard to believe, considering that Keith used to learn self defense and kickboxing.  
The reason for that remained obvious.

Anyway, Lance overestimated himself quite a lot.  
Especially his plans. Which might be the reason why things turned out like this. That and Keith´s habit of going along with his shenanigans.

The begin of the story, however started when both of them were around seventeen. High school. A hard place for children, an even harder place for a teacher.

It all started with a simple chat Lance had with his best friend Hunk Garret. Hunk was a tall, intimidating person with a heart of gold and a soft smile. And the most amazing cooking skills you could imagine.  
He had no secrets from Lance. So, naturally he was the first one he told about the love letter he received.

“What? Really? From Shay? She actually signed the letter?”, Lance asked incredulously happy for his best friend. His crush on the girl had been obvious to everyone for month´s. It was about time he acted on it. Hunk deserved it, after all.  
“Not exactly. I just kind of recognized her handwriting?”, Hunk shyly replied. “I don´t know. Perhaps I am just overreacting. Perhaps it was someone else?”

Lances eyes just widened. “Are you kidding?! Of course it was her! I´ve seen her writing, too! Nobody makes her g´s like that! And she writes as clean as no other! You seriously need to talk to her! Go get her, man!”, Lance harmlessly punched Hunk on his arm.

“Ow.”, Hunk replied, but grinned.  
“We could go right now. I bet she is at her locker right now!”, Lance said, his hand placed on his chin. As though he really had to think about this.  
Naturally he knew where she was. He could even see her, because Shay was standing on the other end of the corridor and was looking over to Hunk. Just as red and shy as Hunk was.

As soon as Lance pointed at her, to nudge Hunk into her direction, his genuine happiness turned to anger in the blink of an eye. What did HE want?!  
Keith.  
Standing right next to her. A hand on her shoulder. Talking to her with a radiant smile on his lips. Keith rarely smiled. Lance knew that much. This couldn´t be good.

Hunk just took a deep breath and nodded at Lance, only to make his way over. He didn´t think what Lance thought in that moment. Was Keith about to get back on Lance for ruining his last art project?!  
That would so not be fair. First of all since Keith still got an A, because Lance had accidentally improved the painting. However he did that...  
Second of all, it was unfair to bring Hunk´s love life into it! Flirting with his soon-to-be-girlfriend! Are you kidding?!

Hunk didn´t see that Lance was getting angry with every second right now. Keith, even just talking to Shay was a stretch in Lance´s eyes. This was so not okay.  
Did he really want to steal her?! Not with Lance. Lance didn´t think at all, when he walked right past Hunk, who was trying to look calm when he approached the girl of his dreams.

“No, no no no no no!”, he said, not noticing how Hunk paled behind him. And ignoring how shocked Shay looked at him.  
“Keith! Come with me, right now!”, he said, fury evident in his eyes. Even Keith just stared at him incredulously. Like “what the hell did I do to you now?”.  
But Lance just grabbed him by his arm, and shoved him to the males bathroom.  
Leaving Shay and Hunk behind, both flabbergasted. 

“What the fuck is your problem?!”, Keith finally snapped, as Lance let his arm go.  
“What my problem is? You flirted with Shay!”, Lance pointed accusingly at his face and Keith just stared at him in shock.  
“Pranking me is one thing! But don´t you dare bring Hunk into this.”

One moment Keith was madly confused, then realization seemed to settle in his eyes.

“Dude, Shay is in love with Hunk. I wouldn´t flirt with her.”, he said, shaking his head. “I don´t even know where you get your random ideas. I was just talking to her. Is that not allowed?!”, he said, eyes narrowed in a frown.  
He crossed his arms and stared down at Lance, despite being smaller than the Cuban.

“Oh, come on! I can see, when someone is flirting! I am the flirt master after all. And you were definitely trying to sew her!”, Lance snapped back at him. Finger accingly pointing at Keith´s chest. The frown was marvelous, but Keith was not impressed.

“I seriously can´t believe you. How long did you watch us, a minute or something? To your information, I was teasing her. She was constantly staring at your friend. “, Keith rolled his eyes, sarcasm evident. “I want them to finally get together like everyone else does. Shay is one of the few good people in this school. But she surely is shy.”

Lance frowned. But then his shoulders relaxed. “That – actually sounds about right. Still. Don´t you dare touch her! Got it!”, Lance said after a moment of reconsidering.

Keith sighed and uncrossed his arms, as he headed for the bathroom door. Before he opened the door, however, he turned around for a second again, to say some last words.  
“Don´t worry. Shay has her own mind anyway. It´s not like she likes me. ”

He left the bathroom with a grin. “Hey, would you look at that!”, he smiled and Lance looked passed him, seeing Hunk and Shay talking. Hand in hand.  
Lance smiled too, registering way too late the words Keith said. Or rather mumbled to himself, as though he wanted to prove himself a point.  
“Besides. She´s not exactly my type. I´m gay.”

\--------------------------------

Keith stared at the window. Math had never been his favorite subject. But he didn´t mind the calmness or statics. Or equations.  
Right now, however. It was hard for him to think. Did he just come out to Lance?  
The guy who used every single information he had about him – against him?  
Holy quiznack, he did. 

Keith didn´t know what to make of this. He had just thought about the ridiculousness of Lance´s accusation and just continued talking.  
Keith never liked talking, so why did he say that? Why didn´t he just stay silent like he usually did.

Not to mention that was the first time he ever came out to someone.  
And to his nemesis of all people.  
Now it was only a matter of time until the rest of the school knew, right? Keith sighed. That had been such a stupid idea.  
He turned his head. Lance was sitting on the other side of the classroom. Concentration visible in his eyes. He always struggled with math.  
It was always funny to remind him of that fact. But now Keith didn´t know whether he could make fun of him for that later.

It was quite weird how Lance´s whole personality changed, whenever they were in class. Hard to think that Lance could actually focus on something other than girls.  
But then again, there had to be a reason why he was at the Garrison. The application surely was not easy. Even for a high school.

So, for Lance as well, this was a touchy subject. It all depended on Lance now. If he were to out Keith to the whole school, Keith would definitely pay him back for that.

Keith shook his head. Soon after, his mind wandered somewhere else. 

\-----------------------------

“What did you talk to Keith about. Wait, let me rephrase it. Why on earth did you walk up to Keith and Shay and just attack him right there? I was about to confess to her!”, Hunk asked, almost furious. Well, a Hunk-level of furious.

“Sorry, I just thought - “, Lance started. “What?! What could you possibly think that makes this okay?”, Hunk said. Almost hurt, because apparently his best friend had nothing better to do than start a fight right in front of his crush.

“I thought Keith was hitting on her, okay? I thought he was getting in your way. SOOO I talked to him.”, Lance said, his voice a slur.  
Hunk raised his eyebrows, until he started understanding what Lance just said.  
“Ohh. Ohh... Oh my god, I didn´t- oh my god. The way he was smirking at her before. You´re right! I didn´t even think of that.  
I´m so sorry, Lance, I thought-  
Wait. You talked to him?”, Hunk stared at Lance. 

“Yeah, don´t worry. Keith had seen her staring at you and decided to tease your girlfriend.”, Lance nodded.  
“No, I mean, you talked to him?!”, Hunk blushed. Nervously scratching his neck.  
“Yeah. Sure. You know I can´t punch him on campus.”, Lance nodded.  
“I- okay. Are you sure he´s not interested in Shay? I mean, everyone would be.”, Hunk said, still nervous.

“Nah, he´s not. He made his point more than clear.  
But, you know what? Actually your little love story with Shay made me think of something. Do you think anyone has ever had a crush on Keith?!”, Lance grinned.

“Not that I know of. Wait, you´re not going to prank him again, are you?!”, Hunk asked now more relaxed. But still suspicious of his best friend.

“Of course I am. Here´s the plan.”, Lance leaned over the table between them, to tell Hunk what he had been thinking of.

Well. Perhaps they shouldn´t have discussed the plan in the middle of lunch. Or they should have payed attention to their sitting companions.  
Maybe then they would have noticed the two people next to them. The one person who was already considered Keith´s brother. With his girlfriend. And their nerdy best friend.  
Shiro with Allura and Pidge, to be exact. 

\----------------------------------------------

Dear Keith.  
I know you probably never noticed me, with how cool you are and stuff. But I´ve been watching you from afar for quite some time now. And, just to be honest. I think I have a serious crush on you. Will you go out with me? ~Anonymous

Keith stared at the letter in confusion. He looked at the backside of it, searching for any more of it. He had found the letter in his locker.  
But this was not what he had expected. 

What kind of prank was this supposed to be?, he questioned himself. He had expected a whole book of hate comments, preferably about his so called Mullet.  
Pupils just spreading the gossip or trying to make him an example for the school. Because the people here were tolerant, but they loved to make everything a hot topic.  
Lance could use his new found information to roast him in the fire of publicity. Honestly? Keith had expected everything. Just.

Not this.

What exactly did Lance mean by that? Keith scratched his head.  
This was a joke, right? Or did Lance do this for someone else? Or- No. Keith saw him write the letter. Keith saw him put it into his locker. He even recognized the handwriting.  
Was Lance stupid or was he completely honest right now?  
Was this about Keith´s coming out? Keith blushed a little. It was weird how nobody had approached him because of this yet.  
Was this the reason? Was Lance actually in love with him?  
Keith shook his head. That couldn´t be. It had to be a prank. This was Lance. Of course it was a prank. One of the stupider ones, Keith decided.

Keith sighed, as he put the letter back into his locker. As he turned around, he saw Shiro jogging towards him.  
“Keith! Keith, wait! I need to tell you something!”, Shiro said, as he finally reached Keith´s position.  
“What is it, Shiro?”, Keith asked, yawning, still wondering about the letter.

“Lance is trying to prank you! He already put a love letter into your locker! He wants to embarrass you! He -”  
“Yeah, I kind of expected that.”, Keith shrugged his shoulder, as he closed his locker door.  
“What do you mean, you expected that?”, Shiro just stared for a second. Eyes wide.

“It was obvious, really. I saw him fumble with my locker. I saw him write the letter and laugh to himself. This is nothing new, really.  
Reminds me of the time he used to sneak small snakes into my bag.”  
Shiro just looked at him. “Didn´t you keep them?”, Shiro asked, confused. “Yeah, sure. I like snakes.”, Keith shrugged his shoulders. 

Shiro thought for a moment. “What are you going to do about the letter, then?”  
Keith just looked at his locker. “I don´t know. I kind of want to punch him right now, but I had expected something worse, I guess. What would you do?”  
Keith asked. He wasn´t really angry. But disappointed. Lance should know better than this. He did have a lot more imagination. So this was just – sad.

Shiro seemed to think the same thing.  
“You already planning to pay him back?”, Shiro said, slightly worried. Keith smiled. Shiro knew him too well.  
“I wouldn´t know how, to be honest. He should know that I already know it´s a prank. So he´s probably waiting for me to use the letter to call him out in public or something. Just to somehow twist it like I was fooled by him for actually believing this or pretending he was serious and making me an asshole.  
I could just pretend I return his feelings, don´t you think?” Keith smiled a little. Knowing how stupid this sounded. But Lance probably wouldn´t expect this turn of events.  
.  
Shiro looked at him. Just looked as though he saw Keith for the first time.  
“He wouldn´t even believe you.”, Shiro said. “He would definitely look through you!”  
I´m gay.  
Keith grin widened. “Of course he would. But he would have to find another response. He cannot just make fun of me then, because his girl friends would be disappointed and avoid him. Then he´d be the ass. But he cannot seriously reject me either, because then he would loose the prank to me.  
So there would only be one option for him.”

With that Keith turned towards the entrance. School was over after all. “You don´t happen to know where he is, right now, do you?”  
Shiro walked beside him for a short while, as they exited the school building.  
“I think he is with the swimming team right now. Are you sure about this, Keith? It´s not like you have a backup plan. I mean, do you really want to fake a confession for a prank?  
Lance would definitely have a backup plan. I´m sure.”  
Shiro as well stopped in his tracks, expecting Keith to turn back now.

“You don´t really know Lance, do you?”, Keith said.  
“He´s not that smart. He would definitely give up sooner or later. I´m not going to give up before we started. We´ve been pranking each other for years now. I know what I am getting into.”, Keith shrugged his shoulders. 

“But he really is stupid. Remember when he pulled that prank on Nyma in third grade once and she was so happy?  
Lance felt really bad back then, because Nyma really had a crush on him. They eventually got together, because they were friends. Still are.  
Lance only told her, after she broke up with him, two month´s later. Never told anyone else though. Nyma was really hurt, but not as heartbroken as she would have been, if he had told her during their relationship. “

“Of course I do. Allura told us about it, after all.”, Shiro nodded.

“I´m pretty sure she noticed something was off though.  
That time actually stopped him from focusing on pranks for a while. He was really devastated back then. I´m surprised he has the guts to pull that card again.”, Keith thought to himself.

“Well. Karma is a bitch. Now Lance probably regrets breaking up with her back then. Now he does have a crush on her. But she is definitely never going back with him again.”, Shiro said, shaking his head. 

 

“Hi, Pidge!”, a small figure suddenly approached from the side lines, ignoring Shiro´s greeting.  
“What are you going to do, now that you know what Lance is planning?!”, she asked and put her glasses back into place.

“Well, obviously, I am going to confess to him.”, Keith shrugged with his shoulders.  
“Understandable. Have a nice day.”, she said and a second later she was gone already.  
Keith just shook his head in amusement. Chuckling like an idiot to himself.  
“What the hell was that now?!”, Shiro asked, still confused.  
“That was a typical Pidge, I think. I bet she is going to tell Lance about it now.”, he said, still grinning.  
“Isn´t that bad?”, Shiro asked, nervously.  
“Not exactly. It´s not like he didn´t expect it anyway.”, Keith grinned.  
“Actually, now I am curious about what he will do.”

“You two really need to sort out your priorities.”, Shiro shook his head in disbelieve.  
“Hey, we cannot exactly punch each other anymore. We´re just having a little fun. He started it, anyway. I´m just going to be the one to win .”, Keith laughed and patted his brothers shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

“Figured.”, Lance mumbled, as Pidge told him. Swim training had just ended and there he stood on campus with his friends.  
Was this how Lance had planned it? Kind of. But not exactly.   
He had not been thinking ahead. That was a mistake. He had just wondered how Keith would react. But in hindsight, he should have known.

Couldn´t Lance think for once? What was he going to do now? If Keith would be there now, confronting him, telling him he loved him, what would he do?  
What should he do? He kind of trapped himself there. If he were to confront Keith before Keith would, could he stop it by declaring it was a prank?  
But then Keith would either say he knew and Lance would have lost. Or Keith didn´t say anything and continue his payback. Then Lance would have lost and ruin his chances with the ladies.   
The last thing he wanted was to be seen as an insensible liar.

Lance grabbed his head. “Damn it.”, he cursed, hearing Pidge chuckle, while Hunk just sighed.  
“I told you this was a bad idea.”  
“Why didn´t you stop me then?!”, Lance cried out. “Hey, this is your own fault.”, Hunk grinned.  
“I know!”, Lance almost screeched.

“Lance, we need to talk.”, Keith walked up to Lance. OH NO! Lance was still in the middle of his internal crisis.   
He nervously looked around, only to find his friends grin at him. While Shiro just stared at him in utter confusion. Didn´t he know? Did it matter? Shiro was just a child who didn´t understand these kind of things.

“About what?”, Lance asked dumbfounded. Pretending he didn´t know. Perhaps he could still pretend he didn´t put the letter in Keith´s locker?  
Then again, Keith knew. Great, now he was worked up about it. He already knew how Keith would respond. What would Lance do now? Giving up was his only option now, right?

“I saw you put a letter in my locker.”, Keith said innocently. A little too innocently, Lance decided.  
Lance frowned, he could see the grin in Keith´s expression.

If Lance were to tell you what caused this entire ordeal. Lance would tell you it was Keith´s fault. All his fault with his stupic challenging grin that always made Lance do the most stupid things.

“Oh no, what letter could he mean?!”, Pidge neutrally said as though she faked a surprise, but without the fake surprise in her voice.

“Does that mean you want to go out with me?!”, Keith stated, his grin widening.  
Lance forced himself to stare back at Keith. “Yes, I do.”, he said without blinking. Just waiting for Keith´s answer. Keith´s grin was still stable and Lance wished he could just wipe it off of his face.

“Well, the answer is yes. Let´s go out then.”, Keith said, smile almost twitching.  
“Tomorrow at eight?”, Lance asked. “Sure”, Keith answered, confusion somehow mixing into his voice. Still waiting for another response.  
“Does this make us a couple now?”, Lance asked, as well waiting for the right moment to say something else. To end all of this. But the moment never came. And Keith seemed to realize it too.  
“I think so? If you want to?”, Keith quizzically stared at Lance.  
“Ok? See you tomorrow, I guess?”, Lance stared back. Equally irritated

“Yeah, sure. See you then. Bye?”, Keith said and waved. Slowly turning around, still looking at Lance, as he left, Shiro following shortly after. Expecting Lance to stop him. But Lance´s feet were glued to the ground.

He only watched as they disappeared close to the bus stop.  
“What the hell just happened?”, Hunk suddenly asked, totally confused.   
“I have literally no idea.”  
“Dude, you have a date with Keith! He´s your boyfriend now!”, Pidge said, still chuckling.  
Lance only continued staring.  
This did – not go as planned.

\-------------------

“So? What now?”, Pidge asked, as she was finally able to stop her laughing fit.   
“I think I am going on that date with Keith?”  
“I cannot believe that you two are seriously doing this.”, Pidge shook her head.  
“Pidge is right. The two of you reached a new level stupidity.”, Hunk agreed, grinning at his best friend.

“Also, I am literally going to tell the whole school.”, Pidge said, already picking out her phone to text something to the schools home page.  
“What?! No, Pidge!”, Lance shouted. “Too late. Already done.”, Pidge said evilly grinning, while putting her phone back.  
“You really think I wouldn´t publish this? I bet I can get some money out of it too.”, Pidge grinned.  
“Don´t worry. You and Keith will get some of it, too.”, she laughed and Lance facepalmed.

“You´re evil. Can I help?”, Hunk smiled at her, surprising Pidge and Lance equally. “What? I could need the money.”, he said.  
Pidge grinned. “How about five percent?!”, she asked. Hunk thought about it a second. “Make it ten.”  
“I´d give you twenty, if we can sell your cookies.”, Pidge argued. “Deal.”, Hunk smiled. Lance groaned.  
“Why are you even my friends.”, he asked himself, ignoring the laughter that followed.

\---------------------------------

“Hey, Keith. You look. Nice?”, Lance said, as Keith rang his doorbell the next day. Keith was punctual. As expected.  
Lance had just put on his favorite clothing. If he were to go out with Keith, he at least wanted to be presentable. More importantly, comfortable.  
So he ended up wearing his favorite blue shirt and a nice black jeans. Along with a bunch of bracelets. Colored in bi- colors. Just because.  
He had taken some time to do his face mask and usual ritual, like whenever he went out on a date. This wasn´t his first date, so to speak.

And Keith had wanted to play this game, so Lance wouldn´t back down to act as realistic as possible.

Though, admittedly Keith looked quite stunning himself. Not that Keith wasn´t attractive to begin with, but Lance noticed that Keith had actually tried to tame his hair in a pony tail. He also wore a simple pair of jeans, a red shirt and a freaking leather jacket.

Keith looked to the side, nervously. “You, too.”, he finally answered. Lance had expected him to be rather cocky about the whole date thing. Since they both knew it was fake and all.  
But Keith was just as nervous as Lance felt.  
How do you fake pretend you are a couple when everyone knows it is a prank?

“Thanks. Uhm. Do you want to come in? Or – did you plan something?”, Lance carefully asked, scratching his neck. Awfully aware that they were still standing in the doorsteps of Lance´s home.  
He could hear his own mother and his father and his siblings laughing behind him. Sneaking up, just to get a glimpse of Keith.  
Hunk had been so nice to inform them of Lance´s little date. He was kind enough to leave out the important part, though.

“Your parents are home, right?”, Keith asked and Lance nodded in response.  
“Well, I think it is quite early for me to meet them, don´t you think? This is our first date after all. As boyfriends, you know.”, Keith slowly said and Lance bit his lip.  
Right. They were boyfriends now. 

“Well, were are we going then?”, Lance asked.   
“I thought we could probably go to the cinema? It´s a classic, after all. Plus, we would have something to talk about then. We haven´t exactly been- talk active in the past.”, Keith reasoned and Lance relaxed a little.  
It was kind of reassuring that Keith had already thought about this. Knowing that it would get awkward sooner or later.

“Alright, what are we going to watch?”, Lance asked. Already wondering what Keith would probably want to watch. He had always known them as complete opposites, so naturally they would argue about the movie choice, right?

“I thought about Infinity war. I figured you are quite the marvel fan. And you keep talking about the Avengers all the time.”, Keith said.  
And Lance stared. Keith had known? Known that he had wanted to watch that movie for quite a while? But had never had the opportunity to go there yet?  
“That sounds pretty awesome. Do you like The Avengers?”, Lance asked suspiciously.  
“Nah, I never watched it. But I´ll survive.”, Keith smiled devilishly and suddenly Lance knew what was going on.

Keith was going to one up him in the romantic gesture part of the relationship. “Oh, you definitely have to see them. Perhaps we could make a movie night in the future.”, Lance accepted the challenge.  
Making sure Keith could hear the implication. Lance wouldn´t give up so easily.

 

\-----------------------------

 

“I cannot believe they did that!”, Lance almost screamed when they left the cinema. A little popcorn still left in a double sized bowl, because obviously they had to share the popcorn.  
They´ve had different drinks though, because Lance prefers cola, while Keith was surprisingly hung up on Fanta.

“Actually, this was bound to happen. They are still going to continue, so they needed a cliffhanger. Though it really surprised me how well the movie was made. All the effects and stuff.”, Keith answered calmly, while Lance was already freaking out.  
“Are you kidding me? The best characters practically died!”, Lance whispered, hoping not to spoil the people around them.  
“I´m pretty sure the strange doctor had a plan. They will probably come back in the next part. No big deal.”, Keith tried to calm him, but Lance burst out laughing after a second of staring at Keith.

“Hey, what are you laughing for?”, Keith asked, suddenly flustered. He didn´t know what he did that made Lance laugh like that.  
“Did you seriously just call Doctor Strange a strange doctor?”, he asked and Keith turned his face in embarrassment.  
“What? They called him that!”  
“Doctor Strange is his real name. Doctor Steven Strange. We really need to watch the movies together!”, Lance laughed, finally calming down after the heartbreak that is called infinity war.  
Until he realized what he had just said.  
“I mean, if you want to?”, he asked, suddenly remembering why they watched the movie together. Lance, awfully aware, that he forgot for a second. Keith nodded in thought.

“Hey, Lance?”, Keith suddenly said. “What is it, - honey?”, Lance had needed a second to decide whether or not he should use a nickname for Keith already, but he decided that it would probably ease himself after his little mistake.

“I think it is getting late. I can walk you home for now and I don´t know. We could continue this on another day?”, Keith asked and Lance couldn´t help but grin.  
Keith was right. His mother wanted him home by twelve anyway. Keith was acting like a really good boyfriend already. Who would have thought.

“Sure, I´d love to.”, Lance said and needed a moment to process what he had just said.   
To be honest. It was kind of true. The movie had been quite fun, even if it was just them sitting next to each other, laughing, whispering, commenting on the movie.  
It had been a lot better than Lance had expected. And a lot less awkward, too. He was almost a little excited for their next fake date. If it happened to be like this that is.

So they left the building that the cinema was in. Still talking, until they started a little food war with the popcorn leftovers.

Were they even allowed to have this much fun? They weren´t even friends! They were just pretending, after all. And they both knew and everyone else but Lance´s family were in on it and in the end – would you blame Lance for questioning that?

Adding to that now, that they were slowly approaching Lance´s house in the dark. Lance was wondering what he was supposed to do now to say goodbye to Keith.  
A part of him contemplated on inviting Keith in. It had been nice, after all. And while he exclaimed that he won the food fight and looked at a laughing Keith who had obviously nothing better to do then to put the whole bowl of popcorn over Lance´s head, he kind of wondered why they didn´t do this before.  
Why they didn´t hang out like this before. If they never started the prank war years ago. Would they possibly have become friends even?

Was this was Lance wanted? Did he want to be Keith´s friend? Because Lance felt some kind of longing in him as he looked at Keith who was still waiting for him to make a move.

And for this moment he felt like he could get used to this. Just – what would this mean when Lance finally won the prank war? 

“Good night, Lance.”, Keith interrupted his thoughts, as he realized that Lance wasn´t going to do anything. He stood there for a second though, too.   
Lance could practically see him thinking. And Lance grinned. They had been working on this prank surprisingly convincing.  
There was only one thing they needed to end this right and Lance knew what it was.   
And there it was again. That awkward silence between them.   
Until Keith sighed again and reached for Lance´s face to kiss him on the cheek.   
“Goodnight, darling ~”, he grinned, daring to wink at him.  
Lance couldn´t help but grin as well. “Good night, honey~”, he waved back and closed the door behind him.  
If only to freak out in silence.

\---------------------------------

“I want all of you to take part in this project. Since we are going on school vacation, I will tell you what you are supposed to do.   
I want you to think about the vacation, about what you are going to see there and create art with the material of your own choice. Try to show me, what you learned on vacation, how you felt during that time and what you are going to learn from it.  
The art project can be done either alone or in small groups of two.  
Yes, Lance?”, the teacher asked.

“I want to do the group project with Keith.”, he said. And their teacher paled. He had heard of the rumors. That the two guys were prank dating each other. And everyone was betting who would give in first.  
However, he also remembered the one time the two did a project together. It had ended with Lance constantly sabotaging Keith´s art work, while he himself didn´t get anything done.  
In the end they argued so loudly in class that they were send to their respective director Iversion. They had gotten a fair warning.  
Since then, none of the teachers forced them on a school project together, ever again.

And now? Now it was obvious Lance was taking this opportunity now. And Coran? Coran their favorite art teacher who had found quite the liking to Lance, was now forced to either accept or refuse his plead.  
However. Coran bet quite the money on the blue boy. He was fairly certain that Keith were to give up first. Especially when Lance were to sabotage their project.  
“Alright. Anyone else?”, he simply answered.  
Cursing Pidge for that stupid bet. Especially on vacation, if they destroyed anything, it could be quite the expense for the school.  
But 50 bucks were 50 bucks. And Coran didn´t intend to loose them. Besides, he didn´t have to pay for any damages the two did.  
The school had well payed assurances.

“Heard that, Keith? Wanna meet up at your place after school?”, Lance grinned at the boy right beside him. They had actually switched seats so they could sit next to each other.  
Keith just grinned back, “sure, but this time you actually need to work with me!”, he laughed and Coran could see the twinkle in their eyes.  
There was a spark of challenge between them that Coran couldn´t quite place. 

“Hey, I am working!”, Lance exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but there was almost no spite to it.   
And for this one exchange Coran saw something he had not expected. Because Keith smiled disbelievingly. But he was also looking at Lance with a fondness that made no actual sense.  
Shouldn´t they be fighting by now? Shouldn´t they be angry at each other like usual?

Coran was the first one to ever consider that perhaps, there was more to this little prank then the two let people see. Or they even realized themselves.  
This could be the start of something very new.  
And for once Coran let it slide.

\-----------------------

 

“Oh, the two of you are so cute together!”, Allura devilishly complimented them.  
“You can actually see, how much in love you are. It´s so great to see you so happy!”, she laughed as she met the two fake lovers in the middle of lunch.  
Lance had his arms rested around Keith´s shoulder. Originally to tease him, but after a while he had stopped thinking about it as Keith relaxed into him. Not that he would ever admit that though.  
And now they were just acting disgustingly affectionate right in the middle of school.

They should have expected this. After all, Pidge had practically invited the whole school to make fun of them.  
“Allura is right. Hey, how about the two of you kiss, so we can make a photo and Allura can write an article about you! You know, for the school papers.”

You could practically see Lance processing the information. Suddenly his eyes going wide with shock. It surely was a sight.  
“You want us to – we just became a couple! Nobody needs to read something about us ! This is private, isn´t it, Mul- I mean, honey?”, Lance said. Feeling weird, calling Keith Honey in front of their friends.

“What, are you afraid?”, Keith suddenly teased and Lance looked at him. He just knew that Keith was just as flustered as he was, but he still managed to stay composed. Or did he seriously not care? Keith was the type to avoid physical contact, though. How could he not care?

“I think, Pidge has a point. We are an odd pair, after all. I mean, we used to spit in our notebooks in elementary school. Remember? This might be the story of the year. You always wanted to be a hot topic in those school papers, right? This is your chance!”, Keith said with an evil smile and Lance wanted to smack his stupid grin right off of his face.

“Keith is right! Also, I bet it´s not the first time the two of you kissed, right?!”, Pidge teased, laughing, while Allura almost screamed with laughter.  
They didn´t exactly expect the two of them to just share a look. They did, didn´t they? If only on the cheek. It still counted and Pidge covered her mouth with one hand as she realized what the look implied.  
The “oh my god, when did that happen?”, was written on her face like – almost literally.

“Sure, honey. You are right. Let´s do this.”, Lance frowned at Keith, not hiding his determination to one up Keith. Keith just stared for a moment, while Allura fidgeted with her phone.  
“Ready, Allura?”, Lance asked, for once in his life wishing that he could stop all of this nonsense.

Keith, however, looked equally angry at Pidge and directed exactly that face at Lance.  
“Ready!”, Allura grinned.  
Lance sighed, before cupping Keith´s face with his own hands, quickly moving to get the kiss done rather sooner than later.

Yet again. This was not the first time Lance had ever kissed someone. And he could feel that Keith was slightly backing away at first. Unsure whether to break this up before it happened.   
Because a kiss, to him, was a huge deal. No matter how much he tried to hide it. And he knew that Lance had experience and that he probably didn´t have as many confusing thoughts as he did. Such as “why is my first kiss with him of all people.”   
That was why Keith was kind of relieved that he didn´t have to initiate it. Still, it came as a shock to him, that this was actually happening. Lance took it as a personal win.  
And of course, Keith refused to give up now. 

And then he felt Lance´s lips on his. Time stopped. Both to them and the world that suddenly became a blur. The other´s lips suddenly being the focus of all their senses.

Keith thought he would turn back in disgust.

But Lance was warm. Surprisingly soft and even more careful, as he pressed his lips on Keith´s.

Keith had expected himself to be confused, weirded out, shocked or just frozen in place.  
He didn´t expect himself to relax into their very first real kiss.  
He didn´t expect Lance to be so gentle. The kiss so casual. Yet so different than whatever Keith could have imagined.  
He would have imagined it to be forced, to be filled with challenge. But it wasn´t. This was but a kiss. There was no actual spark to it, no actual excitement like what Keith would imagine a real love experience to be. But of all the stories of first kisses he had ever heard, he didn´t mind this one.

He liked it. And he felt that Lance was probably thinking the same.

Keith felt Lance loosen his grip on him. Their kiss slowly deepening, until they heard a silent click and the next moment Lance was gone.  
Keith fought the urge to chase after him.   
They only found Allura and Pidge staring at them and then at the picture. And Keith knew why, as Allura showed it to them.

Keith just stared at the picture. He never knew the both of them could look so – fitting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://twitter.com/RNonexistence/status/1014178453585825792?s=19
> 
>  
> 
> I wanted to draw Pidge's coming-out. So- in case you're interested.

They walked home together after that. Naturally. They had said it in art class after all. Still, it was slightly awkward.  
Lance didn´t say anything and Keith remained silent just like usual. But with a tension that reminded Lance of a train wreck.

And they both knew whose fault that was. They had just kissed. That in itself wasn´t even the problem. They had both expected it to happen eventually. It was the fact that they did it so everyone could see.  
Keith would have rather liked it to be more – private? Again he had that weird feeling that it was the same for Lance.

Their prank war had stopped being a prank between the two of them. It had become a thing between them and the school.  
How did the two of them turn out on the same side? Lance sighed, as he looked at Keith, who was walking next to him. His hands curled around the hem of his bag.  
Otherwise Lance would have grabbed it. He felt like that would make the silence less awkward. But Keith didn´t let him. For some reason kissing was fine. Holding hands was a different story.  
So they just walked, until they reached Keith´s home.

Keith was living alone. Actually not that far from Lance´s house. But his home was more of an apartment. Just big enough to fit one person and their belongings.  
Not that Keith had many belongings.  
So Lance put his shoes aside, while Keith opened the door. About a second later, Lance was already swept of his feet, as something big and fuzzy pulled him to the ground.

“Yorak! Stop! No! He´s a friend! No attacking!”, Lance heard Keith´s slightly panicked voice, but Lance had something else to focus on.  
The giant dog was seriously licking his face right now!  
“Oh, my god.”, he chuckled. “Make him stop, That tickles!”, Lance laughed, while also huffing, when the dog leaned his weight onto Lance´s chest. It was a big dog. Almost a wolf and it was heavy and it was crushing Lance´s chest.

“He- what now?”, Keith suddenly gasped. “I think he likes me?”, Lance laughed as Keith tried to pry the dog from his fake boyfriend.  
“That is – weird. He usually attacks people who I take home. He still has issues trusting Shiro. How come he likes you?”, Keith asked. Honestly confused.

“Am I a dog whisperer? Perhaps he´s just charmed by my incredible good looks and good behavior.”, Lance wiggled his eyebrows and Keith groaned.  
“Precisely. Thanks for making my point clear, honey~”, Lance laughed and suddenly the awkward tension was gone again.

“Wait, you seriously named your dog Yorak? And I thought Keith was a bad name”.  
Keith sighed. “Don´t remind me. My mom did. When I asked why, she told me that that was the name she wanted to give to me, but my father didn´t allow it.”  
Lance burst out laughing after that.  
“Wow. For once your mom comes back from that awfully long business trip and the first thing she does is ruin a dogs life with her name choice.”  
Keith laughed at that.

Weird. Usually when someone mentioned the long absences of his mother they used to pity him. And Keith would always feel angry about it. Always turn around and avoid those crushing empathetic eyes. He just couldn´t stand those eyes. Like he cared. His mother hadn´t been there for a long time, and? She might only come back once a year, but at least she came back. And she called all the time. There was no reason to pity him.

Lance seemed to know that. And that, Keith noted, was a first.

“You know what, I think you are right. She does have a bad sense for names. My father isn´t much better, though.”, he shook his head.

Lance relaxed at the sight. Keith rarely looked this comfortable when talking about his family. It was nice to know he was allowed to joke about it.

“Hey, you want to watch Doctor Strange?”, Lance suddenly asked and Keith´s laugh turned to a disbelieving grin.  
“Seriously?! I told you, we have to work this time! No slacking of!”  
Lance groaned in disappointment. How about we make out instead? The thought crept in Lance´s mind and for a second his eyes went wide at that thought.  
Thankfully he hadn´t asked that out loud.  
He didn´t know what would have happened if he had. Though he also wondered, what Keith´s response would have been then.

He shook the thought off. They needed to focus now. Sure, they had a few weeks for their art project, but that didn´t mean they had to go on vacation unprepared.  
So, the two of them sat down on Keith´s couch and started unpacking their stuff on the small table in the middle of the room.  
Keith brought some snacks, too and the they started working on their project.  
They even did some homework together.  
And if Lance was being honest, he had probably never had a teacher who seemed to understand his issues so well.

How had he ever not gone along with Keith? Who was that guy he had fought all those previous years? What was it that made them want to rip out each others throat?  
It couldn´t be that the only thing that kept them from doing that was a kiss and a not so secret prank.  
Lance decided that he could get used to this.  
He actually thought that perhaps, it was a better use of his energy to make out – ehm, up with Keith, then trying to kill him.  
He really liked his dog too. Even the snakes that seemed weirdly familiar.  
It would be nice to be his friend.  
Yorak seemed to think the same thing. Because he didn´t want him to leave later that evening.

“Lance, Keith. You two wouldn´t mind sharing a room, do you?”, Coran asked. Lance and Keith just blinked at him.  
“Are you sure about this, Coran? I mean, the two of us are a couple after all.”, Lance asked, ignoring the implication he himself had stated.  
Keith, however, almost laughed, as he listened. “Well, I think since you two have been a couple for only about a week now, it´s safe to say you won´t do anything stupid.”, Coran winked.  
His initial goal was to give them a little kickstart, because Keith had to give up, sooner or later. And it was Keith who was known to avoid contact to other people.  
So sharing a small place with the ever so outgoing Lance would hopefully speed up the end of this prank that distracted everyone in school from – well - school.

For some reason even Iversion was participating in the whole bet thing that Pidge had started. He bet on Lance to give up first, though.

“I see. That should be a great opportunity for us to – get closer?”, Keith finally said, still fidgeting with his sleeves.  
Lance grinned, as he nodded. He looked back at Keith who seemed to find their whole situation just as funny as he did.  
Them sharing a king sized bed. Could you imagine that romance novel trope?

Well, except that they wouldn´t share a king sized bed.  
After Coran had assigned the bedrooms and given them the keys, they had about half an hour to get set up before lunch was about to start.  
And Lance was both relieved and confused to see their chamber.

No matter how harmless he found their situation, he really wasn´t ready to share a bed with Keith.

It was a very normal room. For two people. Two beds, a nightstand for each bed, a wardrobe.  
And, because the Garrison never avoided the expensive, a bathroom for them to share.

That was what Keith and Lance were looking at right now. After a good amount time, sharing seats in the bus. Partly sleeping, listening to music or talking to their friends who were sitting close, but in a different row.  
“I kind of expected them to force us to share a bed.”, Lance said without thinking and he saw Keith shifting next to him.

“Me too. But the reservations were made month´s ago. Also, couples shouldn´t even share a room here.”  
There was something foreign to Keith casually calling them a couple. It irritated Lance for a moment. He wanted to say something, but decided against it.

“Yeah, whatever. Let´s just put our stuff down. Just so you know, I take a lot of time in the bathroom.”  
Keith rose an eyebrow in confusion after he followed Lance inside.  
“What do you mean by “a long time”? How much time can you possibly spend in a bathroom.”  
“My record is three hours.”, Lance answered, already grinning at the image of Keith gaping at him.  
“What´s yours?”, he asked, innocently.  
“Ten minutes.”, Keith deadpanned and Lance chuckled. He expected no less of an answer.

 

“Figured. You´re not the type.”, Lance said, waving with his arms as though it was a shame.  
“Not the type for what?”, Keith asked like a child.  
“Not the type to wear a face mask. Or take care of your skin.”, Lance explained, but Keith continued to stare at him. “What´s wrong with my face?!”, he suddenly crossed his arms in defense.

Lance sighed once more and approached his fake boyfriend. Keith eyes widened as Lance cupped his face in his hands to examine it with experienced eyes.  
“Look, if you don´t take care of you skin, you´ll - “, Lance stopped in the middle of his sentence and he could see into Keith´s confused frown.  
He kind of wanted to kiss him, just to see how his eyes would widen in shock.

“This is SOO UNFAIR!”, Lance suddenly screamed and Keith flinched at the sudden noise.  
“How do you have PERFECT skin?!!??!?! You´ve GOT to be kidding!”  
Lance cursed as he jumped around the room in disbelieve.

“What?”, Keith deadpanned, his expression hilariously twisted.

Lance turned around again.  
An accusing finger pointed at him.  
“I´ve spend years perfecting my skin care routine and then YOU of all people come around and have perfect skin!  
It´s not greesy, it´s perfectly clean and healthy!  
I cannot believe this! Being this attractive usually needs lots of practice, and -”, Lance stopped in the middle of his sentence as he again made the mistake to look at Keith.

Keith stared now. Eyes widening in utter surprise. He had expected a lot. But not- this. “What?”

Lance felt himself sweating. “Nothing. Nothing. Forget about it.”, he said, looking away, just as confused as Keith was. Did he seriously just compliment Keith without a proper warning?  
Without the hint of an insult?

“We- we probably should be getting ready! Coran is waiting. Gotta hurry, gotta hurry!”  
He ran towards his luggage, randomly unpacking some of his stuff, so he didn´t have to look at Keith.  
Who kept staring. Unable to process what had just happened.

\---------------------------------------

 

The village they were visiting was small. Foreign, and mostly nature. In fact, the most expensive building you may find here was the hotel they were staying in.  
Finally, they understood why they were assigned with a task while vacationing here.  
This place had nothing to look at, but nature. Art was the one thing you could focus on.  
Inspiration awaited you in every corner.

The houses were build after antique standard, with art engraved in every stone.  
The forests however, were rich with colors, flowers, trees and all kinds of greens.  
This place was only good, if the weather was fine. And hell, the weather was perfect. Other than that, there was nothing here.

When the class stepped outside, you could here most people gushing about the view.

Lance, still hung up about his little f*ck up in his and Keith´s room, was one of the first to take off.  
He had decided that he spend too much time with Keith.

He told Keith that he had promised Hunk to not leave him behind, just because they were in a relationship now. And Keith had agreed, glad to have some time for himself.

He was surprisingly eager to tag along with Pidge, though, to find something modern in the village.  
That had nothing to offer than an average coffee shop and a supermarket.

Where did people buy their stuff anyway?  
“This means war!”, Pidge hissed, as she noticed that even her wifi was completely down.  
“Can´t you, I don´t know. Build something to get wifi?”, Keith asked innocently.  
“Of course!”, Pidge almost shouted. As though Keith had offended her.

“Now I know my art project.”, she grinned.  
“I doubt that is allowed.”, Keith interjected. “Besides. Technical stuff isn´t exactly art.”

“Unless I use the material of the forest.”, Pidge responded, already heading in the direction Lance and Hunk had disappeared into a mere hour ago.

“Keith? May I ask you something?!”, Pidge suddenly asked, as she brushed away some leafs that hit Keith´s face instead.  
“Sure.”, Keith answered, not exactly listening. It was weird enough already that he didn´t wander those forests by himself. Could you blame him for spacing out a little?  
“How come you are not with your honey right now?!” She grinned.

“Oh, come on, Pidge. You know this is just a farce. We need some time of, once in a while. We´d be going nuts, staying in the same place all week.”, Keith stated, slowly. Confused as how much of a lie this sounded.  
He did enjoy their time. That was irritating.  
“Yeah, figured. You´re not exactly the social type anyway.”, she sighed, not even questioning his statement. “Sadly. It would be so much more fun knowing you´d win.”

Keith stopped. “Wait. Pidge? Did you – you didn´t bet against me, did you?!”, Keith asked. Totally aware that Pidge had been counting a lot of money those past few days.  
It didn´t take a genius to figure out what she had been doing.

“Of course. Lance might be an idiot. But he is good with relationships, surprisingly. He´s always putting effort into those. Even if it´s someone he doesn´t like. Like you.  
It usually ends into him being totally hurt when they break up, though.” she commented.  
“That´s probably why he is so relaxed with you lately. He won´t have to fear a heartbreak for once. It´s just a prank after all.  
Plus, he never broke up with anyone before. So he keeps what he has, while you always end up rejecting things and or people.”

Keith thought about that for a moment.  
“I guess. You are right.”, he slowly said. “He is that kind of guy.”  
Pidge turned around, not saying anything as she watched Keith mourning into himself. He wasn´t stupid. This made total sense. Would he bet against himself too?  
Probably. Weird. Why did he even bother then?

“Why exactly did those girls break up with him though?”, Keith asked. Not noticing how Pidge stared at him, slightly irritated by both the question and the complete ignorance of her comment regarding his own personality. Not to mention the strange choice of words.  
If he had really payed attention, he would know that Pidge never thought he would continue their talk about Lance.  
Actually, with this the topic was long overdue to her. A topic change would be nice now.

“Isn´t that obvious? Lance was putting too much effort into those relationships. Always being the romantic one, always asking them for dates.  
His dates usually felt pressured in the beginning. Until they got used to his affectionate behavior.  
They either felt so bad for not being that much into it or they completely used him and brushed him off for a different guy. Someone that was out of their league.  
To most girls, Lance is more of the best friend type. His longest relationship was two months, I believe.”, Pidge explained.

“That sounds really harsh.”, Keith answered, feeling lost in that explanation. Their first date had been fine, after all. It didn´t feel forced and Lance had been more than casual. Lance had not been acting like a love struck fool around him.  
Then again, Lance was just being himself with Keith, because he was not in love with him.

Weird. Why did Keith feel both confused and proud about this fact?

“What about me?”, he asked. Still not noticing how Pidge sighed in defeat.  
“You´re the “out of their league” type.”, Pidge responded and Keith glanced at her.  
“I´m not- what?”  
“Yeah. I was surprised, too. But apparently you fall into that category. I could name at least twenty girls who I´ve heard gushing about you behind your back.  
I´m pretty sure at least three of them were Lance´s exes. No wonder that guy hates you.”, she shrugged her shoulders. And crossed her arms in defense.

“That- actually explains a lot of things. “, Keith nodded.  
“But why don´t they stay with him then, when they know that? I mean. If they cannot reach me, and honestly, they really cannot reach me, then why leave their boyfriend?”

Pidge snorted.  
“Obviously, because they don´t really love him. And they realize that through you. As I said. Lance is more one of the guys you´d put into the Friend-zone.  
They don´t want to be cruel, so they end things, before his heartbreak might be getting worse.”

“Wow.  
How do you know these kind of things? I never thought you were the type to think about romance.”, Keith pointed.  
He expected Pidge to laugh. But she remained silent. He looked at him, yes, but somehow it seemed like he hit her with something. She was suddenly serious.  
And emotional. And that put Keith off a little.

“I´m not. I just really like to watch people suffer. “, she attempted to joke. But it felt forced. Out of place.  
Suddenly a sadness, a sense of discomfort was radiating of her. She took another deep breath. Was she bracing herself for something? She was tired of pretending she didn´t care. But she cared a lot.  
And Keith deserved to know.

“To be honest? If you were to look up how I feel about other people, you could call me an aromantic asexual.” She paused. The bomb silently hitting Keith like the whisper of a breeze.  
She took another breath, before continuing.

“I mean, I don´t really feel different, now that I have a name for it, but you know.  
Since I discovered that identity, my life suddenly feels more collected?  
I mean, I still like some peoples relationships. Like Hunks and Shays, because it´s cute. But whenever it comes to my own love life – just. no. Romance is just so – off putting to me.  
I´d feel really weird being with someone. I couldn´t devote myself to someone in that way- I – I´m sorry, I´m rambling.”, she sighed. Clearly messed up.

“I just. I grew up with so many people that were talking so much about their relationships with me. And you and Lance faking this relationship kind of added to that distress.  
Because apparently relationships are everything now. Even you are in one. I mean, sure it´s fake, but still.”, she shook her head. Not even looking at Keith.

“But, it was you who started the conversation about Lance!”, Keith interjected. Confusion blurring his ability to understand where this was coming from.

“I know! And it´s not that I don´t enjoy it. I guess this is the only way I was able to deal with the betrayed feeling I had? I tried getting around my discomfort by making that awful bet with the school. I think it is my way of confronting you.”,  
Pidge had suddenly gotten even more quiet.  
“It´s like relationships, being in love, finding someone attractive is suddenly all there is. Even for you!  
You were the only one I could still talk to without ending into an emotional spiral about how hot or great someone is.  
And now we talk about your fake boyfriend and his previous relationships. Do you know how much I hate it when those gossip girls keep asking me if I ever had a boyfriend?”

Keith didn´t say anything. He didn´t expect this confession. Especially not this sudden. In this random place.  
“Pidge. You -  
You´re still young, you don´t-” By the way Pidge´s face suddenly snapped towards him, Keith realized how wrong his choice of words just was.

“Don´t what? Do you want to tell me that I will find someone one day? That I´ll fall for someone eventually? Like those girls tell me? Every. Single. Time.”, her voice suddenly turned angry.  
“Do you know how much I hate it when you say that? Did it ever occur to you that I prefer my life the way it is?  
With only technology, my friends and my family? I am happy with being me! I am happy being with you guys. “, she clenched her fists as she almost spit at Keith.  
Then realization about her own words settled in her widening eyes. She looked down again, the sadness overwhelming her in a sudden rush.

“I just. I wish people would leave me alone about it. Or that I don´t have to pretend like it matters to me.”  
Pidge went silent. She sat down on a giant rock, her face buried in her hands.  
And Keith needed a second to process.

“Pidge?”, Keith said, voice softer than he had ever imagined possible.  
“You don´t have to get a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Or whatsoever. I just wanted to say, you are about two years younger than us. People develop feelings in a different pace. In different ways.  
You may feel different about it in the future. You might fall in love one day eventually.  
But you sure as hell don´t have to. No matter what, you will always feel the same to us.  
To be honest, I cannot imagine you gushing over a random person, except if they were a magic castle space ship. “  
Keith took her sudden snort as a permission to continue.

“Of course you can be happy the way you are. I´d be angry if you weren´t. You don´t have to force yourself into a relationship.  
You´ve got us, your friends. And I know you. You might not show it, but you love us dearly. And that love is worth nothing less then that love of a relationship.  
It´s just as valid and most of the times it is a stronger and even deeper feeling then every crush people may tell you about. You know I never had a real family. With my mom always gone and stuff.  
But the one I found in my friends. You, Shiro, Allura. Without you guys, I´d be constantly depressed.  
I don´t have to be in love with one of you to be happy.

And you know what. If I ever get heartbroken by some random guy, I know I can always count on you. You are way more important then any love interest I may have in the future.  
And if you want to, we don´t have to talk about my love life. I´d actually prefer it if we were to avoid it, too.”, Keith laughed quietly, scratching his neck.  
Unsure whether to hug Pidge, or just stand there.  
He decided to sit down next to her, waiting for a response.

“Thank you Keith.”, she looked up at him, a relieved smile plastered across her face.

They sat there in comfortable silence. Just listening to the sounds of the birds and the calm whispers of the leafs.

 

“Wait. Did you say may get heartbroken over some guy?”, Pidge suddenly realized.  
“Did you just subtly confess your gayness to me?”, Pidge only gaped at her best friend.  
A second later she already broke out laughing and Keith couldn´t help but feel embarrassed. But in a nice way. If that was possible.

“Oh man, that outing went well. Next thing you tell me is that you actually are dating Lance and the whole prank story was a prank.”, she shook her head.  
Keith eyes widened at that thought in fake surprise. “How did you know?!”, he joked.

Pidge snorted. “Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys are not that meta. I was joking. Like that was ever a thing.  
Besides. I doubt Lance knows that you´re gay. Unless you told him of course. Which is stupid, because you didn´t even come out to me up until now. That would make your situation really awkward, wouldn´t it?! Like there was the chance you might fall for him.”

“Actually I think he was the first I ever came out to?”, Keith slowly added.  
Pidge´s head turned to him in a way that made you wonder why her neck didn´t make a snapping sound with each twist.  
“You what?”, she asked, mouth wide agape. “You mean he is still pulling this joke, despite knowing !”  
Keith blinked.  
“The whole prank situation started right after I told him. Perhaps even BECAUSE I told him. Also, what is it to him? Just because I am gay does not mean I am going to jump him the next chance I get.”

Pidge took another breath.  
“Alright. Let´s please change the subject. I am done. How is Yorak doing these days?”

“Oh, he should be fine. Shiro is taking care of him, while I´m gone.”

“I thought Yorak didn´t like him?”

Keith laughed a little, a nervous sweat finding it´s way onto his skin.

\-----------------------------

Shiro screeching through the astral plane

\-------------------------------

 

Lance and Hunk were heading somewhere down the forest. Not sure were to go yet. But Lance was part of a giant family. He was used to playing in the woods.  
He was also used to be pranked to actually be left there and survive completely on his own for one weekend. But that was a different story that ended with Lance´s parents going high wire on his siblings.  
“We were gone for two days! What the hell were you thinking?!”

Lance sighed to himself, as he explored the familiar, yet so unknown terrain. Hunk was searching for expandable wood.  
He had been talking about “team punk´s” art project possibly being something technical with material from nature.  
Lance was not sure if Hunk and Pidge had talked about this sort of thing already, but it was also possible that Hunk was just guessing.  
After all, Pidge did not go along with them.  
Lance sighed, as he watched some bugs making their way down a really big tree. It did not have a single idea that this bird right on top of it already choose on it´s target.

They didn´t talk much. You would think, since it was Lance and Hunk, they would be shouting through the forest.  
But Lance was the type of person who perfected talking to a level, where other people were unable to interject to comment on him.  
He practically distracted them from judging him. By opening wholes to his vulnerability.  
It was quite the opposite of what Keith used to be, when they were younger.  
Keith was the type to only talk to people he felt comfortable with. Sure, he had opened up when Shiro declared him his brother and he became friends with Pidge.  
But Lance was only able to settle down with people who he could be silent with.

And one of those rare people was Hunk.  
In the beginning, when Hunk had been alone with Lance for the first time, he had been shocked. Surprised and more than a little worried.  
By now he knew that to Lance he must be really special.  
That´s why they didn´t talk. And Hunk held himself back. He really wanted to talk to Lance about some things. Especially about the bet he and Pidge were participating in.  
But he didn´t want to ruin the moment. Especially since he knew how Lance felt about the forest. How lost in thought he was, just analyzing those trees, those leafs and the random animals in the same world.  
Hunk knew better then to stop the nostalgia that Lance was experiencing.  
So they just went along. The only sounds disrupting the silence being their shoes. Crushing down on dry leafs and random wood pieces.  
And the sweet singing of birds flying by.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The evening came faster than any of them had expected. Exploring unknown terrain might be boring at some point, but it was also very time consuming.  
And it could be fun too. Even if that was a paradox.

Lance and Keith were standing in the same room yet again. And both were remembering the moment they´ve had before.  
But it was different now. Because both of them had spend the day being an emotional teenager who was trying to act adult about all those feelings.  
It was crushing down on both of them. So they did what they always did, when they felt uncomfortable.

Keith remained silent. Lance started talking about his beauty routine.  
While actually applying his face mask. And finally Keith understood, why the hell Lance said he needed a lot of time in the bathroom.  
Because it took Lance a solid hour to get ready for bed. During that time Keith had already brushed his teeth, changed into his pajamas, because he didn´t want Lance to know he usually slept in his normal cothes.  
And he also drew a whole bunch of sketches of things he remembered seeing that day. All while listening to Lance´s voice.  
It was actually quite soothing to hear him talk about his family, about some weird stories and where Lance´s prank habit was rooted. Who knew that it actually ran in the family?

Perhaps their little vacation had awoken something inside Lance, because he was constantly staring out of the window, or at the mirror with glassy eyes.  
If Keith wasn´t so focused on his little sketch project, he might have noticed how Lance slowly became more silent.  
How for some reason he was suddenly lost in his own mind.

“I´m going to bed now.”, he said with his full face mask on, a towel around his hair and a bathrobe covering the rest of his body.  
“Good night, Lance.”, Keith finally said, turning on the lamp on the table, while his fake boyfriend shifted in the bed. And turned of the bigger light.  
It was kind of weird, because right now they weren´t even pretending to be boyfriends. And it did show. Subtle, sure, but it was there. The elephant in the room. Both decided to ignore it.

Keith was pretty sure that Lance fell asleep right that instant. That was why he was finally able to relax. He didn´t know it would take some hours for the guy to finally get comfortable enough to sleep in.  
When he looked over at Lance in silence, he felt a wave of relieve wash over him.  
So much to their awkward situation.  
Lance really knew how to prevent those. With all the talking and stuff.  
That he could be this honest. With Keith of all people. Despite being his rival.  
It kind of made Keith wonder. What was so different now? Why was the change so obviously not obvious? They were still acting like they did before the boyfriend story happened. But it was still – different.  
Sure, they didn´t exactly do anything yet. But that in itself was already quite a bit of a change. Lance´s prank had gotten them in a situation where they could not prank each other anymore. If that made sense.

And now? Now they were still who they had been before, just forced to spend some time together and Keith couldn´t remember a single day where they went along this – casual.  
It made him wonder. What would happen if they grew closer?  
Would Keith actually be able to trust this guy in some weird kind of way? This weird guy who was sleeping with another mask to cover his eyes and ear plugs. In some weird way, he already did. Didn´t he?

Haha, like the guy actually needed ear plugs to sleep. Like his dreams were that light. Ear plugs didn´t even work that well. He knew from experience. Back when he had nightmares of his mother never returning.  
Keith sighed, as he turned around to his sketch again. He was drawing a beach. He didn´t know why. But it kind of calmed him to draw moving water.

It wasn´t like he would fall asleep soon anyway. Keith was used to sleep about four hours max a night. That was probably why he felt tired almost all the time. He used to keep up with the lost sleep on the weekend though. When he would sleep for twelve hours straight every single day.  
Or he slept in class. It depends.

Lance however? He always appeared to be well rested. His parents had probably forced him to get a proper sleeping schedule.  
That was why Lance was sound asleep right now, right?

This was the moment Keith decided to focus on his sketch once more. As soon as his pen reached the paper though, he heard a whimper.  
Confusion made him look up again. The sound couldn´t come from Lance, could it? How long has it been now? Three hours?

But there Lance was in his bed, nervously shifting, shivering, obviously sweating in fear.  
He was – terrified.  
Keith stood up slowly. Without realizing himself, he approached the bed of his nemesis.  
Lance´s breath was hitching. Shaking with terror.  
“Where are you?!”, he mourned in his sleep. Keith didn´t know what to say. He certainly did not expect this to happen.  
Shiro, sure. The guy had lost his arm in a car accident a few years ago and still had nightmares. But Lance?

“D- don´t leave me. Please. Where are you?!”, Lance cried out again. And Keith couldn´t help but get nervous. Confused.  
“Lance? Lance, I´m here.”, he stupidly said. Though he knew Lance couldn´t hear him and by the looks of it, the nightmare seemed to be getting worse.  
And Keith started to panic. He recognized a panic attack when he saw one. And Lance was definitely frozen in place, like he was trapped somewhere.  
“Lance, Lance, wake up! Listen! You need to wake up now! You are dreaming! Come on, Lance! You really need to get out of there!”


	4. Chapter 4

It was dark.  
Lance hadn´t been here in years. But it was all dark again. Around him only cold trees, crazy sounds of hushing monsters.   
Somewhere in the woods, obviously. Lance was exposed. His only light source a small fire he had managed to create.  
But it was getting smaller and smaller with each passing second.  
He was lost. Nobody was there. Only the sound. Something was creeping up around him.  
Lance´s eyes wandered from one shadow to the next. Waiting to be approached. Waiting to be killed by a wolf, like little red riding hood.  
Or by a koyote or a bear. Marco said there were bears in the woods.

Lance shivered at the thought and the cold surrounding him.  
“I´m alone!”, he whispered to himself. Already unable to be angry. He had been all day. Now it was night. It was dark. And he was scared.  
“Please!”, he mumbled into himself.   
“Come back! Where are you, Marco?! Veronica! I hid. You were supposed to seek! So why are you the ones hiding? Why am I seeking?!”, he whispered, shaking in terror as he jumped at the sound of an owl. “Please find me!”  
The fire went out.

Now it was only dark. Lance heard scratching. He cowered in his place. Biting his own lips. High pitched noises surrounding him.  
Leafs crushing under his weight.  
But Lance wasn´t so sure if it was only his own shifting that created the noise. “It´s too loud!”, he whispered.  
But no sound escaped his lips. He was lost.  
He was left behind. Abandoned. Did this mean that people wanted him gone? That his family wanted him gone?  
“Lance!”, a soft voice said. “Who, who are you?”, Lance turned around. Heart beating fast. Where was that voice coming from? What was going on. He thought he was alone!  
“It´s me! Come on, buddy. Wake up!”, the voice said.   
Lance suddenly panicked. “Wake up?”, he asked. Terror rising in him. He was sleeping? No! This was real! Or wasn´t it?  
Did this mean that his reality was a lie too? Just like his family had been? Does this mean he has to start everything all over? With no memories? Does he have to regain all of that?  
Was he going to be lost again?

“Lance! It´s me, Keith! Come on, Lance! Wake up!”

\----------------------------

Lance´s eyes shot open, but it was still dark. What was happening?! Was he blind? He sat up in a rush, only barely noticing someone shifting right in front of him.  
His breath was picking up pace now. Cold sweat running down his back, soaking his robe.  
“What´s going on?! Where am I?!”, he deliriously asked. Panic rising in his voice.  
“Lance! Calm down! Everything is fine! You´re fine! Come on, buddy. Breath with me!”, the person in front of him made loud hissing sounds.  
Lance was still panicking, especially since that voice seemed to know what he was doing.  
“Breathing? Wha- I can´t! I can´t!”  
Because it was true. His breathing was shallow. But no air was rushing into his lungs. His heart was beating rapidly. His mind lacked oxygen to think and that cycle only made things worse.  
“That´s okay! Just breath with me!”, the voice said.  
Lance didn´t listen. “Don´t you get it! I- I can´t breathe!”, he managed to say, while still shaking in fear.  
He was blind, wasn´t he? Where was he? What was happening? Who was this voice? How could he say it was okay that Lance couldn´t breathe?

“Lance!”, suddenly a hand grabbed his own. And Lance´s breathing stopped completely.  
“It´s okay. You had a nightmare. You just need to breathe. I´ll help you. Come on. Breathe with me.”, the voice demanded.  
Perhaps it was the soothing sound of the mans voice. Perhaps it was the calm hand in his own.  
Lance couldn´t help but trust this person right now.  
So he followed his orders.

It took them a while. Lance slowly breathing in and out, Keith calmly rubbing his back, soothing him with words.  
“It´s fine. Come on. Another breath. In and out.”, Keith explained as though Lance had never been breathing before.  
He needed it. Because he had forgotten how to be calm. 

“I think you can take your sleeping mask off now.”, Keith finally stated, as Lance had managed to calm down a bit.  
Lance froze for a second. Right. He had been wearing a mask. And he had ear plugs in as well! No wonder the voice sounded so distant and so dull.

He pulled out his ear plugs first and then unleashed his mask, only to look into the most beautiful face he had ever seen.  
For another second, Lance forgot how to breathe. He was mesmerized. But this was different, because he recognized that face. Though the smile on it was completely new to him.  
Foreign, yet familiar. And it felt like he was looking into a bright light source.

Until Lance recognized this was Keith.  
He blinked, as he continued to stare. What was Keith doing here? In his room? He looked around.  
He didn´t recognize that room.  
Right. They were on school vacation. The forest!. He had a nightmare. No, a memory.

He heaved out another rush of air. Right. Everything was alright. He was in a room he shared with his rival Keith.  
His fake boyfriend. Fake boyfriend? Right. The prank. But did fake boyfriends help each other with nightmares?  
When he looked at Keith´s open smile, he decided that no. This was different. This was something else. It was him having a panic attack. Keith was not making fun of him. He was taking him seriously. Lance had never seen Keith – vulnerable – before. Weird. Considering it was Lance who was in the blind spot here.

“Don´t worry. Nightmares are normal. Everyone has them once in a while. Want to talk about it?”, he asked.  
But Lance shook his head. No. Right now he didn´t want that. He wanted to stay like this. “No, just. Please, stay.”, he whispered. Not ready to be alone again.  
Though he already knew he would regret this the next day. Well, he doubted Keith would make fun of him for this, still.

Lance closed his eyes. “What nightmares do you have then?”, he asked, finally. Keith stopped rubbing his arm.  
“What?”, he asked, irritated, but not surprised.  
“You said, everyone has nightmares. What are yours?”

And Keith started talking. Hesitantly at first. But Lance waited patiently until Keith seemed to calm down enough to tell him.

He decided to trust Lance. And nothing has ever calmed him more.

So Keith started explaining to Lance how he had nightmares of being alone sometimes. Because his mother had left him at a young age. Temporarily, but Keith didn´t know back then.  
How he was constantly afraid of loosing the ones close to him. Keith was embarrassed at first, but the more he talked about Shiro´s accident, the moment Yorak ran away from home for the very first time, the more comfortable he got.   
And Lance simply listened. In this night he forgot that he was supposed to hate Keith. That they were pranking each other.  
Keith did too. They forgot they were supposed to act like boyfriends all together, actually.  
Keith talked through the night. And Lance listened, feeling only a little cold, because of the sweat.  
Until he decided it was his turn.

And he told Keith about the nightmares he had since he was a child. When his brother and sister had left him alone in the woods as a prank.  
For two days straight, without knowing how to get back home. Half starving to death, half poisoned by some fruits he shouldn´t have eaten.  
Lance hated the quiet since then. He was afraid of food he didn´t recognize. He invested so much love in his relationships because he couldn´t stand loosing people. He couldn´t stand being alone.

And for once it seemed that perhaps, they both shared more than they ever imagined.  
Perhaps, they weren´t so different.

\-----------------------------

The week went by as fast as every school trip did. In the blink of an eye, Keith and Lance had already taken the photos they wanted to use for their art project.  
They had visited an old cave with Coran that had showed them stone lions, made centuries ago. Though nobody knew who created them.  
So Lance and Keith had decided to make some sort of collage of evidence for a board they would make to look like a conspiracy theory.  
That had been Lance´s idea, because he wanted to make fun of Keith. Keith kind of regretted telling Lance about his hobby that first night, but in the end he knew Lance was just humoring him.

The other nights had been quite nice too, actually. They had gotten along, spend some time with Hunk and Pidge, who were surprisingly casual about all of them hanging out.  
And as soon as they were alone, they started talking through the night. Lance even convinced Keith to try out a face mask, even.  
A sight Hunk and Pidge would have loved to see, but they would never be informed of this little happenstance.

Lance had taken it as a privilege. So it stayed their little secret.

And they knew with that first night, something between them had changed. They realized how these nights changed their interactions. The beauty night made them more comfortable with touching each other. Just like the first night made them talk to each other.

The third night, which consisted on them being totally quiet for hours on end, while listening to “the worst music playlist in history” as Lance called it, made them comfortable just being around.

And by the last night, when the whole class was partying and both being equally tired, they even went outside to just stare at the stars and talk about zodiac signs and how much they shared their love for space traveling.  
It ended with Lance falling asleep on Keith who woke him up half an hour later so they could finally go to bed.

Sure, it was supposed to be pretense. But somewhere during their cuddles, they kind of forgot.

Needless to say they slept through the bus ride back home.  
Neck in neck, you could say, by the way Keith rested his head on Lance´s shoulder, while everyone else was just laughing at the ridiculous sight.  
Pidge only side eyed Hunk with rolling eyes that explained just how annoyed she was with the prank. While Coran was silently cursing in on himself, because he just lost the bet he had with Iversion.

 

\---------------------------------

 

It was the first night that they spend apart. No late night talking, no distractions, no comfortable silence.  
Keith stared at the ceiling of his room. Just thinking of the one person he for some reason had been so close with those past few days.  
It was weird being alone now. It was weird sleeping in his own bed, so to speak.   
When he usually left his apartment for more than one night, he had moved to a different city before.  
Now he was back in his own room of his own apartment, with just Yorak and those two snakes.  
It was calm.  
And Keith hated every second of it.  
What would Lance do, if he was here right now? He would probably start a conversation about aliens and how hot they were.  
Keith chuckled to himself. Irritated by the sudden noise.   
He wanted Lance to be here right now. In fact, the feeling was so intense, he actually craved the closeness he used to despise.

What had happened? It had only been five casual days. With a guy who hated him. With a guy he pretended to be in love with.  
Keith stared at the ceiling, yet he didn´t see it at all.  
Why did those words sound so wrong in his own mind? Did Lance really hate him?  
No, that was not what his mind was hung up about.  
Keith didn´t dare think it, but his body already knew what thought was creeping up in his mind. Keith was suddenly hyper aware of his own heartbeat, of the sweat running down his neck.   
Though it was actually a rather mild night.

He was supposed to pretend.  
Keith tried to shove the thought away. But it didn´t work. His mind answered for him.  
If he pretended to love him, why did he trust him with his insecurities that one night?  
If he didn´t love him, why did he like their closeness?  
Why did he constantly think of kissing Lance, since he already knew how that felt like?  
Why did he want to be close to him right now?  
Even if just to bicker. Or not to say a thing?  
Why was he so hung up about the thought of Lance actually despising him?  
Why did he feel so comfortable around him, when he was still warming up to Shiro who he considered his brother?

Why did he ask Pidge all those questions about Lance´s previous relationships? Why didn´t he understand why someone would just – break up with him?

Keith wanted to stay like this with Lance. Holding hands, feeling weird together, when their classmates winked at them as though they didn´t know it was all a prank.  
But was it a prank really?  
Why did Keith even agree to fake dating Lance? Sure, neither of them had stopped the whole development and it would have been so easy as well.  
So why?

Keith´s heart beat sped up again, just thinking about Lance. About his laugh, about his smile, his stupid beauty routine that made his face look like space goo.  
Lance was a beautiful person. He was devoted to his friends, his fake lovers, his bitch exes and everyone around him in general.  
He was accepting, kind. He didn´t even make fun of Keith for being gay.  
Which Keith had expected to happen before.  
Lance was considering his feelings. Even Keith´s snakes could be a prove to that.  
After all, Keith always liked snakes and that had never been a secret. And yet. Lance had decided to use them to creep him out.  
It felt more like a nice little gesture. A present that made Keith´s heart swell.

Lance was even funny sometimes. Keith couldn´t even name one single thing that he didn´t like about Lance.  
If that wasn´t prove enough, then Keith didn´t know what was.  
He felt his stomach aching and twisting at the thought of loosing Lance. Of returning to what they had before this prank started.   
When they had still fought each other, sincerely believing they hated each other.

Keith closed his eyes. He was overwhelmed by those feelings rising up inside him. This was too much emotion.  
Too many thoughts distracting him from sleep.   
Too much – Lance. And yet not enough.  
That was it. Keith´s shot open as the realization hit in.  
This couldn´t be.  
Or could it?  
Keith tried to stop his mind from thinking it and yet he felt his own mouth open.  
Just baring the words to the world.  
“I fell in love with Lance.”   
Oh no.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey, Lance! Nice to see you without your second half for once. I wanted to talk to you.”, Hunk greeted his best friend, who was currently searching for someone on the school grounds.  
“You mean Keith? I don´t know. I´ve been looking for him all day now.  
He didn´t come to school! My parents kept asking me all day when I would invite him for dinner.”, he said, not even listening to himself.

“Lance?”, Hunk asked, slightly irritated at the open response.  
“No seriously. My mother is killing me, if I don´t introduce my boyfriend to them by the end of the week.”  
“Lance!”, Hunk interrupted again, eyes wide, as Lance just stared at him.  
“I´m listening Hunk, spill it.”

Hunk took a deep breath, as he faced his best friend again.  
“This is what I am concerned about. It´s been two weeks already! How long are you guys going to continue this?!”, he asked, worry in his voice.  
“Continue what?”, Lance asked dumbfounded and Hunk´s left eye twitched.  
“Your prank war of course!   
You don´t have to pretend in front of us, while he´s not around! This has been going on for too long now.  
You two need to break- Lance?”, Hunk suddenly asked, his worry even more obvious then before.  
“Are you okay, Lance?”

Lance was pale. His eyes were wide, as he looked at Hunk. Shock turning to sadness, to concern, to irritation and confusion.  
“Lance, what´s wrong buddy?”, Hunk asked. Practically shaking Lance now.  
Lance opened his mouth, but no word escaped his lips, as he covered them with his own hands.

“Lance, seriously, you need to talk to me.”  
“I- “, Lance started, unsure of what to say. His mind was processing reality at such a sudden speed that he felt completely sick right now.  
“I forgot about – that.”, Lance whispered into his hands. Hunk sighed. “What did you forget about?”, he asked, not entirely sure what answer to expect.  
“I- I think I forgot about the prank.”, Lance admitted and Hunk couldn´t help but stare.  
“You do realize the two of you have been pretty close those past few days, right?  
Like – really, really close.  
You just told me your mother wanted you to introduce your – ohh.”, Hunk suddenly stopped in the middle of his confusion.

“You mean, you forgot that you two were not -”, he slowly asked and Lance nodded.  
“Holy cricket. You mean, you two have not been acting around us?”, Hunk´s eyes widened again.  
“I haven´t.” Lance admitted, disbelieve in his voice.

“You know this sounds like you have a crush on him, right?!”

Lance´s eyes widened in shock, as though Hunk had slapped him. Or worse. A puppy.  
“No! NO NononoNOnO hell no.!”, he responded, eagerly shaking his head in defense.  
“I am so not going in that direction!”, he insisted. Hunk continued to focus his eyes intensely at him.   
“I mean, it sure sounds like that, yeah. But you know. I just got to know him better now. I don´t know. I can´t hate him after he comforted me through one of my nightmares.”, Lance tried to explain.  
Hunk´s arms fell to his side. “He what? You don´t mean the ones were you are lost in the forest right?”

Lance hesitated, before nodding. 

“Man. How did he do that?! You wouldn´t even wake up, when I tried to get you out!”  
Hunk shook his head. “You two are really close, huh?”, Hunk asked.  
Lance stopped in the middle of his rant.  
“That – is probably true. We are. But then again, we spend so much time together those past two weeks, would you be surprised?”

“Yeah, imagine the two of you becoming friends.”, Hunk attempted to joke.  
“Actually. I think I´d like that.”, Lance admitted more to himself than Hunk.  
Hunk decided it was probably better to ignore that weirdly out of character statement.

“What about the prank then? I know you wanted to make fun of Keith and all, but if you want him to be your friend. Don´t you think you need to stop?”  
“I guess you´re right.”, Lance responded, but his mind was somewhere else.

Actually it was only a few minutes later the school bell rang and Hunk and Lance had to go back to class.  
Lance stayed mostly silent during math that day. He looked through the window and witnessed the day pass by.  
He saw the singing birds that reminded him of the nights he had spend outside with Keith.  
He thought about the way Keith told him stories about the nightingale and the many encounters he had with them during his foster care time.

He imagined Keith´s face, wherever he looked. Lance was so used to their intervened hands by now that he found himself fidgeting with them all the time.  
It felt wrong not to be close to Keith.  
And Lance had to admit that it was not something you´d usually feel for a friend. Yet alone your rival.

“Hey Lance, have you seen the school papers yet? Allura outdid herself!”, a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. It was Nyma.  
“Oh. No, I don´t think so.”, Lance yawned. He was still tired from last night. His nightmare had intensified again.   
Nyma was a beautiful blond cheerleader. Lance couldn´t name one person besides Hunk and Pidge who had never had a crush on her.  
Who had never been charmed by her. She was also one of the reasons many couples in their school never had a chance to blossom.

It didn´t help that she was an openly bisexual, just like Lance himself. Or that Lance had a crush on her.

Lance would easily admit that he had spend 90 % of his time in this school gushing over her.  
However, as she handed him the school papers that very moment, Lance didn´t even look at her.  
At first, he didn´t even look at the paper either.  
Until he understood what Nyma had meant.

On the front page printed a large picture of a kissing couple. And Lance recognized that picture instantly.  
It was him and Keith of course.   
What moment had Allura captured in her professionalism as a photographer? 

It was weird to look at this picture, which was practically a close up of Lance and Keith. And yeah, you could barely see Keith´s face, because Lance had his hands casually caressing his face.  
Keith was leaning in close, his eyes shut.  
In a relaxed way. Both of them actually looked like that. There was a gentle breeze upon that picture that illuminated them in bright colors.

Lance remembered the time he used to make selfies of himself kissing his previous girlfriends. He knew how he looked when he was happy in love.  
This picture was far above that. This wasn´t just love. This was something deeper, more sensitive, more private. Like he belonged there.  
And nowhere else.   
Lance´s mouth hang wide open.

“How about you read the article?”, Nyma asked and Lance didn´t even notice how little he cared about that beautiful smile she shot at him.  
Not when he had a very different one to compare it to.

 

Klance Kocaine

Yes, you guys are reading right. We gave the weirdest couple in school a full new name.  
And it is just what it sounds like. The Prank of the year. No other then the head of the swimming team, Lance McClain has outdone himself in his new little project.  
The one we like to call the “Klance”-project. Many of you have heard about it on the school page already, after Katie Holt and Hunk Garret had started “the bet”.

After many stories of his previous relationships, Lance McClain, prank king since Coran used to be a pupil at the Garrison, has now invested himself in a new romance.  
With Keith Kogane. Yes, you did read this correctly. Despite hating him and pranking him for years, McClain believes he could fool us into thinking he had any romantic interest in Kogane.  
Why Kogane agreed to play along at this little joke is yet to be discovered. But we can assure you that Kogane is willingly putting up with Lance, informed of the whole ordeal.

You know us, of course we had to pry into it a little and got this exclusive photography of their very first kiss!  
And well, our dear readers, we have to admit, the two of them are great at acting.  
We´ve seen many couples in our school and rarely have we seen a kiss this raw, this emotional and casual before.  
Yet, it´s just pretense. Can you believe it?!  
They way we´ve witnessed them acting together, you´d think you see a married couple. Who knows, perhaps there might be something blossoming between the two?  
Maybe, Holt and Garret will open the possibility of “established relationship”, during the bet?

Just joking. We will not be fooled, though we have to admit, McClain and Kogane are – very – convincing.

 

Lance stopped reading. His eyes hurt from all the gossip talk he could read through the article.  
Allura surely should not become a journalist. Not with writing like this.  
Though, Lance did have to admit- it did look – convincing.  
Nyma glanced at him, expectantly. “You really are good at pretending to love someone. Remember when you fooled me back when we were children?!”, she smiled at the memory. She had long forgiven Lance for that.

Lance only noticed the lack of enthusiasm he just had for any of her words. Why did he feel so – tired now?

“Though, I have to admit, you´ve gotten even better! You and Keith. I was almost convinced when I saw the picture. The bets are running wild, I tell you!   
I´m on your side, actually. I bet you will win this! Don´t make me regret it, though.”, she laughed, but Lance felt himself get sick again.

He kind of wanted to leave right now.  
He needed to talk to Keith. He didn´t know about what though. He felt like he had to talk about their current relationship, but he couldn´t. Not unless he figured out what was wrong with him.

That was until he spotted Keith through the window of their classroom.  
He appeared to be – searching for someone.

“Hey, Lance? Are you even listening? Come on. You are not that slow of a reader.”, Nyma snapped her fingers in front of him.   
But Lance only stood up. “Mr. McClain?! Where are you going?”, Iversion asked him, anger in his expression, but Lance didn´t even mumble an apology, as he just left the room.  
First he felt like walking in slow motion, then he got faster. Until he finally ran outside.   
Keith´s appearance getting bigger and bigger.  
Lance didn´t know what expression he himself was making. He didn´t know what he himself was up to. But he saw Keith surprise turn into a genuine smile upon seeing him.

They didn´t know that people were watching them through the window. But they wouldn´t care anyway.

As Lance finally reached him, he wanted to take a breath. His body screamed at him to stop, because his heart was beating four times as fast as a human heart should.  
And then he just – kissed him.

\----------------------------

 

When you think of the perfect kiss, what would you imagine? Would you imagine someone biting your lip, a tongue slipping into your mouth?  
Whatever it was, Keith didn´t remember. He just knew that this kiss was far beyond anything he would have dreamed of.  
If he had liked their first kiss, he definitely couldn´t describe this one.

He couldn´t even focus that much on the kiss itself, because all he could feel was Lance. Lance, who was breathing him in, somehow becoming part of Keith himself, because Keith didn´t know which limps belonged to him and which didn´t.

He felt the spark, everyone was always talking about, when they talked about their first kiss, but it was more of a burning sensation of satisfaction.   
This was everything totally unreal, totally overwritten and exaggerated descriptions of inexperienced fanfiction writers were telling you about.

It just felt right and neither of them knew how much they had craved this feeling up until now.  
It wasn´t air that reminded them to stop though.   
It was something else, neither of them could quite place. Perhaps it was the want to just see the other. 

They opened their eyes, Lance heavily breathing, as his brain swam from lack of oxygen. 

“I – I think we need to talk.”, Keith gulped. He didn´t know what to make of this.  
Suddenly he became aware of all the glances. The people staring at them through tilted glass. Iversion waiting to send them to his office.

What if they had forced Lance into this? What if this – THAT, had been part of the plan?

“I´m sorry.”, Lance said, eyes down on the ground and Keith could see him step back. Did he regret this? Was he – oh please no. Not now.

“What are you sorry for?!”, Keith said, already knowing the answer. Lance couldn´t do this anymore.

“I – I can´t do this. Not anymore.”, he whispered, eyes searching for everything but Keith.

He had felt pressured into approaching Keith like that because of the audience.  
“I just – I cannot- Look, Keith. I´m sorry about this charade we´ve been pulling. We- we didn´t even convince anyone that we were dating.  
I mean, everyone knew it was-”

“It was just a prank.”, Keith stopped him.   
And Lance looked at him with wide eyes. It didn´t matter anymore. “There. You win. I lost.”, Keith said. And saw Lance´s eyes twitching. 

“What?”, Lance asked. Eyes widening as he realized what he himself had been about to confess.

“You know. I cannot pretend to be with you anymore. We- I really need us to break up. I can´t-”

“I love you Keith.”  
Silence. A breeze hit them with full force. But neither of them noticed. Keith just stared, unable to process what Lance had said. This was so abrupt, so sudden, he didn´t know what to say.  
“Wha-”, Keith began, unintelligibly. And Lance looked just as shocked as he felt-

“I am in love with you.”, Lance said, his own eyes frozen at a spot on the ground as he said it. As though he just realized. As though he just noticed.

“What the actual FUCK, Lance!”, Keith could only exclaim, causing Lance to jump in surprise.  
“You can´t just confess like that! You can´t just -”, Keith was lost in his own confusion.  
His own happiness. 

And then he just broke out laughing, while Lance could only stare in amazement.  
“You just. I mean – you just beat me at confessing to you, I cannot believe -”, Keith wheezed.  
Lance´s eyes widened. 

Realization hitting him with full force.  
“You mean, you -”  
“Of course! What the hell did you think?!”, Keith smiled and Lance couldn´t stop smiling back as he hugged him in response.

 

\-----------------------------------

Bonus:

 

By the way. The school building was sound proof.

It´s been three month´s and the rumors about Lance and Keith had not quieted down yet. People were still lamenting every single one of their actions on the Garrison´s homepage and the bet was flourishing like crazy.

Left only Pidge.   
Who was really, really, angry. 

“Can you two just freaking STOP!”, she finally shouted one morning at the lunch table, where everyone could see the art projects the class had made.  
Lance´s and Keith´s art project had gotten them an A. They had slightly altered it in hindsight of their little prank and made it a conspiracy board about their relationship.

Keith had somehow become an alien in this one, who was in a relationship with Lance and secretly hiding between the stone lions.

But now it was in everyones faces, yet again. And the project had gotten quite it´s likings on the homepage. 

“Stop with what?!”, Lance asked, irritated, as he fed Keith with his olives.  
“With THIS!”, she pointed at them, gesturing about everything on them. Anger and annoyance mirrored in her eyes.

“You mean, me feeding Keith? Why? He doesn´t eat enough. Let me take care of my boyfriend.”

Pidge groaned, while Keith just continued reading. While sitting in Lance´s lap.   
“No! With the prank! It´s been month´s now! I´ve put 50 bucks on Keith giving up first! When will I finally get my money! I am so done with you guys!”

At that, Keith perked up.  
“I thought you got your money about, I don´t know? Three month´s ago?”, he asked, completely confused.

Pidge opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again.  
“What?”, she deadpanned.  
“Yeah. I mean. I kind of gave up about three month´s ago.”, Keith admitted, shrugging his shoulders at her.

“You- what now?”

“Yeah. I thought you knew?”, Lance answered, equally confused now.

“No? You two have been disgusting ever since the vacation?”, she said, raising her eyebrows at Hunk, who was listening and slightly chuckling to himself.  
“Wait, you knew? You owe me 50 bucks, you asshole!”, she groaned at Hunk, who gasped as he clapped his hands over Shays ears. Who randomly appeared out of nowhere, because the author was too lazy to include her properly in the story.

“Wait – so you guys are -”, Pidge suddenly stopped in the middle of her rant.  
Eyes widening in shock.  
“Ehm, yeah? Isn´t it obvious?”, Keith smiled at Lance and kissed him on his lips. Because he knew it would annoy her.

“Oh, gross.  
Wait- that means. Now I know why Coran changed his bet. That bastard.  
Come on, Hunk. I need to update the bet. I really want my money now.”

Lance and Keith only chuckled to themselves. “You know what, Lance. I think it´s finally time for you to introduce me to your family.”  
“What? Now? No, my dude. Your mom is coming home for the weekend, you´ll introduce me to her first!”  
“Hey, we´ve got today afternoon, don´t we?”, Keith asked, while wiggling his eyebrow.  
“Alright, alright. I bet my mom will force you to play chess against her.”, he grinned at the thought.  
“I bet I´ll win.”  
“Don´t be cocky, Mullet. My mom could beat you with her eyes closed.”  
“Oh yeah?”  
“Of course!”  
“It´s on!  
“You bet it is!”


End file.
